Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Roger Goodell‘s predecessor, passed away Sunday morning, per Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer and others. Tagliabue was 84.
A graduate of New York University School of Law, Tagliabue was a practicing attorney from 1969 to 1989, and the NFL was one of his clients. League owners selected him as Pete Rozelle‘s successor in 1989.
The league continued its inexorable growth under Tagliabue’s leadership, growth that included the addition of multiple expansion teams during the 1990s (Jaguars, Panthers, Ravens, Browns) and early 2000s (Texans). Baltimore, which had lost the Colts to relocation in the 1980s, was one of the finalists for a new team in 1993, though it lost out to Jacksonville and Charlotte at that time. Tagliabue’s comments that Baltimore should “build a museum” with its proposed stadium funds became a highly-publicized source of bitterness, though then-Browns owner Art Modell moved his franchise to Baltimore shortly thereafter, renaming his club the Ravens.
Tagliabue oversaw that move and the introduction of the current iteration of the Browns — who kept the franchise’s prior history, name, and colors — to the league in 1999. There were several other relocations during Tagliabue’s tenure, including the moves of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Raiders to St. Louis and Oakland, respectively, and the move of the Oilers (now Titans) from Houston to Tennessee.
Tagliabue also laid the framework for the league’s highly-successful forays into foreign markets. While Goodell ended the former commissioner’s NFL Europe league in 2007 (shortly after his ascent to the top job), he quickly replaced it with the current NFL International Series, which continues to flourish.
Goodell’s predecessor has also received praise for his efforts in convincing then-Saints owner Tom Benson to return his team to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and for denying Arizona the opportunity to host the Super Bowl in 1992 due to the state’s refusal to establish Martin Luther King, Jr. day as a state holiday. The Chevy Chase (Md.) native was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
Goodell issued a statement on Tagliabue, which can be found here (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter). Tagliabue’s cause of death was heart failure complicated by his Parkinson’s disease, per Schefter. He is survived by wife Chandler, son Drew, and daughter Emily.
We at PFR extend our condolences to Tagliabue’s family and friends and thank him for his numerous contributions to American football, which is why our site exists.
Rip.
Did they boo him on draft night too, or did that start with Goodell?
Is there ever a night when Goodell doesn’t deserve to be booed?
There was never a night where Tagliabue deserved to be booed.
The Ravens were not an expansion franchise. They were a relocated franchise. The new Cleveland Browns was the expansion team.
They were a technically an expansion team because they were a new team (new name, no history, etc.).
They were not technically an expansion team, because the league didn’t expand.
They were the Cleveland Browns, they inherited the entire roster and former Browns players. The Ravens were a relocated team, and the new Browns are an expansion team. The Ravens never got an expansion team #1 pick nor were they allowed to participate in an expansion team draft of other teams players that they didn’t protect, you know, like all expansion teams get.
So they might technically be a NEW team, they are not an expansion team, because they retained the Cleveland Browns roster, never got to participate in the expansion draft, and did not get the #1 draft pick in the NFL draft.
They never were. They were the old browns who morphed into the ravens
RIP Paul…..
This was my commish 🙁
This man deserves so much more appreciation than he’s gotten from the average fan.
For me Pete Rozelle was the guy who did all the heavy lifting and got two embattled leagues to merge. His successors only had to keep the gravy train running on the tracks.
To me, he will always be the man that gave Baltimore the middle finger. I understand it wasn’t his fault, it was an NFL business decision to not put an expansion team in Baltimore, but he didn’t have to tell us to go build a museum, especially when Indianapolis stole all the history of the Colts along with the team. Baltimore didn’t get a sweetheart deal from the NFL, getting promised a new team, being allowed to keep the team name, and the history books.
That being said, I am not happy he has passed. There’s business and then there is the human aspect of things. I may not have liked what he said, but that doesn’t mean I should, or anyone else, should revel in his passing.
Rest in Peace, Paul.
Tagliabue I do believe was never booed on any draft he did. He was actually one of the better commissioners any sport could have